


Catch the sunset

by Inky_Scribbles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kinda, No Plot/Plotless, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Worldbuilding, does this count as a fix-it, just a smidge, not edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 22:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20033056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inky_Scribbles/pseuds/Inky_Scribbles
Summary: Karin and Naruto go out on sea duty in the sun's nectarine light, and guide the last boat into the harbour.///Uzushio never fell. Naruto and Karin grow up together as cousins, and spend their evening together as stand-in lighthouses.





	Catch the sunset

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how to write either of these characters, but I wanted to do something with Uzushio. The tag is too small, lol.

It’s evening.

The sun has barely shifted from where it’s been sat on the nectarine horizon for the better part of two hours, languid clouds drifting slowly along. Past the docks, the harbor, and the fishermen and women recently returned from sea; past the climbing city of glowing red stone, with all of its people and their brightly coloured lives; past the birds hanging in the mild breeze, all dark heads and pale bellies.

Out on the ocean, beyond the rock armour encasing the harbour, the wind is harsher, colder, the salt stinging as it glides by. Naruto shivers as a horse catches his calves before he can jump it. It’s not as cold as it had been a few days ago, right after fresh rainfall, but it’s still cold.

His partner laughs. “You should really get out on harbour duty more often, Naruto,” she smiles, red hair dipped in honey against the sunset. “Instead of practicing your dancing so much.”

“Hey! One day, I will combine taijutsu and _Uzubuki_, and it will be awesome!”

“Sure, okay.” Karin’s lips twitch. Every day, she becomes more and more like Mito-oba-sama.

He hops another horse before it can get to his ankles, but forgets to apply the chakra again before he lands and ends up knee-deep anyway. She laughs again, predictably. 

He pulls himself to the surface again, only half-upset, because she’s laughing and it’s still a great thing to see, still warms his chest, raises a wave of something or other in his belly-- just to see his family happy-- even after all of this time.

“Come on. This’ll be our last boat before the next shift gets in, I reckon.”

The last fishing boat cuts through the short waves like they’re butter, sleek and wooden like most of the other boats already moored. On one side, its painted name gleams like fool’s gold as the sun’s final rays strike it.

Karin and Naruto go up to greet _The Saltback Lion_, leaping over waves like they’re hurdles in a race. Which, effectively, they are. Naruto gets there first, waving a cheery “good evening!” onto the deck and running side along with them.

“Hey, shinobi!” a boy on the ship calls down. His cheeks are pricked red by the wind, and his hair is a blue to match the sea along the shore, when it’s noon and the sun is high enough to brighten the water until you can see the seabed. “Guess what? We totally got a lobster today!”

His mother’s face pops out from over the edge of the boat, an identical grin on her face. “Thanks for waiting for us! There was an issue with the ropes...”

Naruto waves it off. “It’s our job. No trouble at all, ma’am!” the lashing of the waves almost drowns out his words, but they seem to get the message, and head back to the front to steer the ship.

“Any trouble?” Karin asks, once he’s back at the front of the ship.

“Nothing.”

“Nice.”

They guide the ship around the rocks in the fading shine of the sun. As the approach the rock armour, three ninja wave them in, only black specks until they jump up the side to greet them. The new team trades out with them as soon as the boat is moored, and they head inland.

**Author's Note:**

> _Uzubuki_ is something I made up. Uzu is obvious, but Bu means dance, and ki means skill, and was taken from kabuki, a traditional japanese dance.


End file.
